Secrets in the Lab Challenge
by pinkswallowsun
Summary: Leo is keeping a secret. What is this secret and how does it help bring Harry/Nikki closer together. PART OF THE SECRETS IN THE LAB CHALLENGE.
1. Part I

**Part I of 3, for Deadfairies's Secrets in the Lab Challenge :) I wrote the whole thing fairly quickly in between revision today so it hasn't been proofread particularly thoroughly, though parts 2 and 3 will be. I know I have other fics to finish but when you're under time pressure it's much easier to start something from scratch than carry on with something mid flow, so I promise to pick up my other fics later this week when my exams are all over. In the meantime, I've got my first one tomorrow, and reviews would really make me feel better. :) And I will love you forever. **

**Let me know what you think, and I'll get the next chapter up very soon :)**

**Love Flossie xxx**

**Secrets in the Lab Challenge**

**Part I**

He didn't think anything of it when he first saw the envelope. In all fairness, there was nothing about it which marked it out in anyway, nothing particularly distinguishable; just a large white envelope addressed to Dr N Alexander. Well, nothing distinguishable aside from the postmark, the circular ink stamp in the corner of the envelope that should have at least given him a hint as to what this was, where this had come from. But he didn't pick up on it. Why should he have? It was a cold, mid-January morning, Nikki was in Bath at a five-day conference to discuss newly developed techniques for quick and easy facial reconstruction (and possibly visit the Jane Austen museum whilst she was there, Leo suspected) and some nasty form of flu was going around and more than half of the lab technicians had called in sick, which left Leo with the unenviable task of sorting through the mound of post that had arrived over the weekend before his meeting later that morning. He needed to get it done quickly before Harry arrived and there was no hope of getting it done before he had to head off to meet with the coroner; when Harry didn't have Nikki to distract in order to avoid having to actually do any work before 11 in the morning, he tended to turn to Leo instead.

And so there simply wasn't any time to stop and consider what each letter might be- and apart from anything that would be prying- there was only time to frantically throw the post into piles and deliver to respective desks. There wasn't even time to turn over the envelope and take in the return address on the back, which was probably just as well, Leo decided in hindsight, because if he had then he might have struggled to maintain his concentration through his meeting. He might have struggled to keep himself from spending that hour and a half worrying.

Leo barely even had time to greet Harry as their paths crossed in the doorway, just about had time to say good morning, that he would be back in a couple of hours or so and he had left his post on his desk. He strongly suspected that Harry was going to be as bored as he was during that hour and a half of sitting listening to the coroner wittering on about nothing in particular, especially since he didn't have Nikki to tease. He had long since first come to notice that neither Harry nor Nikki quite managed to function properly without the other one there; while Nikki tended to give up on her work every few minutes and gaze out of the window with a strange, mournful sort of smile on her face in Harry's absence, her friend also had a habit of gazing out the window, but differed in the sense that he wouldn't bother with the work phase in between daydreams, just span his office chair like an overexcited child and doodled in the corner of each and every one of Nikki's postits instead, seemingly for no particular purpose other than to drive her mad when she got back. Which was probably part of the reason they tended to take work-related holidays together of late, Leo mused, so that he wouldn't end up effectively two pathologists down at once.

He arrived back at the Lyell Centre once the meeting was finally over to find Harry on the phone to Nikki, feet propped up on her side of their desks, legs stretched out across his own, Nikki's pile of post knocked to the floor where he had clearly kicked it off the edge of her desktop. Rolling his eyes and shouting a 'hi' to Nikki, Leo crouched down to retrieve the post and placed it back beside her computer, in the vain hope that even Harry wouldn't risk putting his feet dangerously close to the computer monitor. And that was the last time Leo gave that letter with the unfamiliar postmark a second thought. The last time, at least, until the phone call came.

It was Nikki's last day of the conference in Bath when it came; although she would be coming home that day, what with it being Friday Leo wasn't expecting to see her until Monday morning, not unless something came up over the weekend. Harry, on the other hand, evidently had plans to see her at some point in the next two days, Leo could tell from the slight smile on his face all morning, from his being in a better mood today than he had been all week in her absence. He was out at a crime scene at the moment- Harry- and so Leo was taking the opportunity to catch up with his paperwork whilst he had some rare peace and quiet. And that was when the phone rang.

A quick glance down at the phone panel told Leo that whoever it was that was calling wasn't after him, they wanted to speak to Nikki; it was the green light next to her phone which was flashing. Normally he could count on Harry to take Nikki's calls for her when she was out of the office, but now of course he wasn't here. And so with a sigh, Leo abandoned his paperwork and leaned over to pick up the phone.

"Hello?"

There was a slight hesitation from the other end of the phone before a reply came, perhaps because the caller hadn't been expecting a male voice. "Oh… hi. I'm sorry, I must have the wrong number, I'm trying to reach Nikki Alexander…"

"No, no, this is the right number," Leo explained quickly. "Dr Alexander's out of the office at the moment, but I'm her colleague, I can take a message for you if you like." It was a female voice, Leo realized, a heavily accented female voice which he vaguely recognised but couldn't quite place.

"Leo Dalton? Leo, it's Sara Laurence, from Cape Town. Nikki's friend. We worked together on the 10 Grand case…?"

"Ah, yes, I remember." So that was where he knew the voice from. Leo had only met Sara briefly in Cape Town, though now he knew it was her the voice was unmistakable. "No, Nikki's not here I'm afraid, she's been at a conference all week. Have you tried her mobile?"

"Ja, twice last night, three times this morning, either it's turned off or it's engaged, I can't seem to get hold of her."

Probably on the phone to Harry, Leo reasoned, though it really wasn't his place to be telling Sara that. There was something odd about her tone of voice, stressed, rushed off her feet, though what it was he couldn't tell.

"I see. Well, she's due back tonight, so you could try her at home this evening."

"…OK," Sara replied at last. "OK. But if you hear from her later, you couldn't ask her to give me a call ASAP, could you? Actually…" she sounded thoughtful now, hopeful, just a little less stressed out than she had done moments ago. "Actually, you could probably help me, if you don't mind, you'll know. What's she decided about the job?"

And suddenly Leo was completely confused, taken aback and ever-so-slightly worried all at once.

"The… the job?" he repeated, almost nervously, afraid he knew exactly where this was going but clinging to the hope that he'd got it all wrong. "What job?"

Sara groaned now; if he concentrated hard enough Leo could almost envision her face falling. "She hasn't told you, has she? Shit. Oh shit, I've really gone and put my foot in it now, haven't I?"

"Well…" Leo contemplated. "Well, that depends on what you're getting at. I could just wait for Nikki to bring this up when she gets back and forget you ever dropped me a hint…"

"That's very sweet of you Leo, but I think it's too late for that, I might as well just tell you now," Sara sighed. "I… well… the university my lab's attached to has just taken on a load of doctors fresh out of their junior year who've decided to study pathology, far more than we've had in the past. My colleagues and I really aren't going to be able to cope with them all, not a hope, so the university asked me to recommend someone who might be prepared to help us out for this academic year…"

"And you recommended Nikki," Leo finished for her. Suddenly his heart was heavy, a strange feeling taking him over which he hadn't properly felt since he and Theresa had sent Cassie off on a school residential trip for the first time, just a couple of weeks before she died. _Snap out of it, Leo,_ he told himself firmly. _She's just a friend, a colleague and a friend, that's all. She's not tied to you, you know, she doesn't have to stay here for the rest of her career. You must have known she'd want to move on at some point. _

It was only at that point Leo realized that he sounded like an overbearing father struggling to come to terms with the idea of his little girl leaving home.

"Right," he said at last, waiting a while before he trusted himself enough to keep his voice level. "Right, well… well Nikki hasn't actually mentioned it to me yet, so I'm afraid I can't tell you what she's planning on doing. How did she sound when you made the offer to her, just out of interest?"

"Well, that's the thing, I haven't actually discussed it with her either," Sara confessed. "I didn't make her the offer, the university did, I was told to wait until she'd received the letter from them before I spoke to her about it. I was expecting her to have called me by now, to tell you the truth, unless she's decided she doesn't want to do it and she's worried about telling me…"

And that was when it clicked. The abnormally large envelope with the foreign looking postmark that he'd left on her desk back on Monday, suddenly Leo had a feeling he knew exactly what it was.

"No, I don't think it's that," Leo explained quickly. "A whole load of post's come through for Nikki this week while she's been away and I'm sure we didn't get much last week, I think there's a good chance it's sat on her desk unopened and she doesn't know a thing about it yet."

"Ah. Ah, I see," Sara realized. "OK. Well, any chance you can make sure she opens it first thing on Monday morning?"

"Yep, that's fine," Leo assured her. "I have a feeling Harry might be seeing her before then, actually, if he is then I'll get him to give it to her."

"OK, thanks. But don't tell Harry about this, OK, not if Nikki doesn't know. Our secret, ja, just until Nikki knows."

"OK." To be perfectly honest that part of it all left Leo incredibly relieved, the last thing he wanted was to have to tell Harry that there was a chance Nikki might be disappearing off to Africa for a year; god only knew how he was going to take that one. Not too well, he suspected. Not too well at all.

"Leo? Leo, I… I'm not trying to take her away from you, you know? She loves it over there with you and Harry, I know she does. It'd only be for a year, no more than that. She'd come back to you afterwards."

What was he supposed to say to that? Sara's awkwardness at his hearing about her plan to steal Nikki away for a year was blindingly obvious, even over the phone, and a part of him felt strangely affronted, angry that she could have picked anyone for this job and yet she had to pick Nikki, had to pick someone from the other side of the world, break up their carefully constructed, family-like Lyell Centre group. And yet at the same time he understood. He knew that Sara looked on Nikki as a little sister just as he looked on her as a daughter, just as Harry looked on her as… well, as a complex mish-mash of best friend and something more. She meant so much to all of them, seemed to have a way of being instantly liked, working her way into their lives out of the blue and never leave. He and Harry couldn't keep her forever, Leo knew that. He had suspected this time might one day come ever since Zambia two years ago, ever since that afternoon on the plain when she had remarked on how she hadn't realized how much she had missed Africa, how she didn't know how anyone could even contemplate leaving. He had suspected she might one day decide to go back, temporarily or permanently. But that didn't mean he liked it, not one little bit.


	2. Part II

**Part II**

Leo Dalton wasn't normally one for deliberately avoiding passing on a message, least of all for his own selfish purposes. Well, not unless the person who asked him to pass on the message was one he particularly didn't like, and although he had only met Sara Laurence a handful of times almost 2 years ago now and wasn't sure he would class her as a friend, he didn't have any feelings of great resentment towards her. Aside for wanted to steal away his daut- Nikki- for 12 months, that was, but he could forgive her for that, knew it was nothing personal. He wasn't withholding her message, her request for him to ask Harry to give Nikki the envelope containing the job offer from Africa over the weekend, out of resentment towards her. Not in the slightest.

No. Leo's decision to neglect to give Harry the envelope to give to Nikki was more out of experience. He couldn't guarantee that Nikki wouldn't open it there and then right in front of Harry, and after the explosion of emotions and tempers which had ensured almost 5 years ago now when Nikki had found out about Harry's job offer from Boston university, not to mention her quiet yet saddened, hurt reaction to the news that Harry was considering leaving just months previously, he dreaded to even think what Harry's reaction would be now that the roles were reversed. All the anger and explosiveness of that argument over America 5 years ago coupled with Nikki's hurt and fear at losing her best friend of late turned to even more anger, Leo was willing to bet. And apart from anything, if there was going to be an explosion of wills then Leo would much rather it occurred at the Lyell Centre, where he would be on hand to intervene as things hit breaking point.

And so he didn't tell Harry about the letter when he arrived back from his crime scene that afternoon, didn't tell him when he locked up for the weekend, told his friend he'd see him on Monday. He just left the letter on Nikki's desk, closed the door and did his best to forget about it over the weekend, telling himself that if Sara called to check up on it all he could pretend that Harry never had any plans to see Nikki over the weekend after all, that dropping it round to hers would be out of his way. She might believe him on the out of his way to take it round front, but if she was half as observant as she seemed then there was no way in hell that Sara Laurence would fall for 'Harry and Nikki have no plans to see each other this weekend, despite the fact they have gone without each other's company for almost a week.' Now he thought about it, he wasn't sure even someone who had known Harry and Nikki for all of 5 minutes would believe that one for a second.

It wasn't until Sunday night that Janet finally extracted the truth from him.

A part of him was a little put-out when she gently asked him what was wrong because something had clearly been bothering him all weekend, not because he didn't want to confide in her but because he'd been doing his best to put on a brave front and act normal and thought he'd been doing a fairly convincing job. Although clearly not convincing enough to fool someone who saw through people's cover-ups and lies for a living.

"I think Nikki might be leaving us," he sighed at last, watching Janet's face intently as he struggled to gage her reaction. To most people it might seem a little ridiculous to be upset over the idea of a colleague leaving, Leo knew that, knew that the closeness of his team of pathologists was something of a rare occurrence. Most people looking in on this situation, on his worry that Nikki might just decide she was sick of cold, rainy London and accept this new job offer, would laugh, tell him to stick an advert in a medical journal and find a temp, end of. But, he hoped, not Janet. Janet was no stranger to the way things worked within his tight-knit team at the Lyell Centre, knew how close he was to Harry and Nikki, had her own close friendship with each of them. And of course she was aware of just how much Harry and Nikki meant to each other, of the seemingly unbreakable bond between them, the tenderness, the…, the sure signs that they were destined to be so much more than best friends which seemed to be blindingly obvious to the entire world but them. But if Nikki were to leave…

Truth be told, nowadays Leo couldn't quite understand why he had been reluctant to take Nikki on, even on locum, when she had first gate-crashed the Lyell Centre 7 years ago. He had still been coming to terms with the loss of Sam Ryan, he supposed, couldn't imagine taking on someone new the conventional way, let alone someone he'd first met after coming into work one morning to find them brushing their teeth over the cutting room sink. In all honesty, when he had made her that locum offer he hadn't expected it work out, not really. But somewhere along the line Nikki Alexander had slotted perfectly into their team, changed it, adapted it, until the boundaries between colleagues and friends and maybe even family had become so blurred that sometimes it was difficult to even work out where they had once been. At some point over the last 7 years she had become something of a daughter to him, the daughter he should have had but no longer did. No… that sounded harsh, that made it sound as if he only thought of Nikki as a daughter now because he no longer had Cassie, as a replacement, someone to transfer the paternal feelings in him onto. And that wasn't the way it was at all. He thought of Nikki as a daughter because she was her, not because she was a replacement in some way, not because he felt for her for having a pathetic excuse of a father, a real father. And the idea of her leaving, heading back to Africa where he would have to pick up the phone and call whenever he wanted to speak to her; that feeling, he imagined, was similar to the way he would have felt had he been given the chance to wave Cassie off to university. Which was absurd, of course. Nikki wasn't his 13 year old little girl, she was a grown woman, she could take care of herself, had done the whole moving out and becoming independent thing almost two decades ago. If she wanted to move back to South Africa, for the year or permanently, then it was none of his business. None of his business at all, it really wasn't. He was just going to have to keep his nose out and allow Nikki to make her own mind up, ensure she knew that he would support her, whatever she decided. Harry, though… Harry was another matter altogether. Leo dreaded to even think what Harry's reaction might be when he found out about Nikki's job offer.

He didn't have to tell Janet all this of course; she already knew. She'd always had a way of knowing exactly what he was thinking and feeling at any given moment, of predicting the pattern of thoughts crossing his mind right every time and therefore knowing exactly the right thing to say. She was a psychologist, after all, if she couldn't see how much his work colleague had come to mean to him after all these years then nobody could. If she couldn't see why Nikki potentially leaving to South Africa was going to tear her and Harry apart, then she might as well give up her job altogether.

"She won't wait for him forever, you know, Leo."

That was what Janet said to him late that night as the pair of them locked up and headed to bed; her voice sad, apologetic, and yet somewhat matter-of-fact. "It's been what, 7 years now since they first met? 7 years, 7 years of obvious attraction between them, of claiming to be only best friends but clearly caring about each other far more than best friends normally do." Far more than most married couples normally do, Leo thought to himself, though he didn't dare say it. Any discussion of Harry and Nikki's hugely complicated relationship was likely to be rather awkward and uncomfortable as it was.

Monday morning came all too soon. It seemed as if there were just mere minutes between his head hitting the pillow and the alarm blearing angrily the following morning, to Leo, at least. Most likely because he was dreading this Monday morning with every bone in his body and then some, Leo reasoned as he wasted time tidying the kitchen, changing the bed sheets, even reorganising his half of the shoe rack before with a gentle hand on his shoulder Janet reminded him that he really should be getting to work. And after that he knew he couldn't avoid it any longer. So with a sigh Leo did his level best to pull himself together and left for the Lyell Centre, it suddenly dawning on him as he drove into the car park that he was so late now that Nikki might well have gone through her post left behind from her week away already, might already know about the job offer, might have already made up her mind. She could have been on the phone to Sara Laurence whilst he was stuck in that tailback on the way into Central London, could have already accepted the offer of 12 months in wonderful sunny Cape Town and be trying to work out the best way to tell him right at this very moment. He could have lost her already and not even know it.

"Morning Leo!"

That was the cheery greeting she gave him when at last he made it through the Lyell Centre doors, looking up from her desk to greet him, eyes lighting up a little. It had been more than a week since Leo had last seen Nikki due to the conference in Bath she had been at, and as he looked at her now, studying her face for signs that she'd opened the letter, that she knew that she was in demand, so to speak. There was nothing in her eyes to suggest she was aware, none of the conflict or decisiveness or surprise that he would have expected there had she opened the envelope, had she known. And yet she looked different somehow… not older, that was no longer a compliment once a person hit their mid-20s, suggested that they were aging rapidly. No she didn't look older, as such, but… matured, wiser, somehow, if that could even show up in a person's face after just a week away. Or maybe this was all this mind playing tricks on him, maybe he'd become so overly attached to somebody else's grown up daughter that now he couldn't differentiate between her and his real, long-dead daughter. Probably.

"Morning!" Leo smiled in return, hoping she didn't pick up on the unfamiliar tone to his voice that even he couldn't quite place. "How was the conference, then? I take it you're now on track for a brilliant new UCL facial reconstruction record, then?"

She laughed a little at that, blushed a little, slightly embarrassed, he could tell by the soft pink glow to her cheeks that always became apparent when he praised her like that. And that was another reason for her going back to South Africa, Leo realized grimly, facial reconstructions. It was her forte, he knew it only too well, and although the technology might pale in comparison in Cape Town, she would certainly get many more opportunities to practise, put her newly learned skills to the test out there than she ever would here in London. Maybe sending Nikki on this bloody conference and all the advancements in reconstruction technique it had to offer was going to come back to haunt him, backfire hugely, convince her to leave. All because of one stupid conference and a letter postmarked Africa.

"Maybe! Anyway, so what's the news here?" she asked now, leaning back in her chair as Leo took Harry's empty seat (presumably he was running late again), gave her a summary of his and Harry's week. Well, not exactly quick; truth be told he was trying to spin it out as long as possible in order to avoid getting onto the subject of the impending pile of post. But then he realized that the longer he left it, the greater the chance of Harry walking in in the middle of proceedings, which was almost certainly a recipe for disaster. No, the best thing for everyone would be to get this over and done with now before Harry arrived, give Nikki some time to compose herself after what was almost certainly going to be a bit of a shock to the system, the last thing she would be expecting on her first morning back at work. The last thing she needed was Harry arriving just as the news was beginning to sink in, to have to deal with his reaction to the prospect of her going away to a different hemisphere for a whole year. Leo had a feeling that Harry's reaction was not exactly going to be calm and congratulating.

"Well, I'll leave you to get on, then," said Leo finally, getting up from Harry's chair and checking his watch as he headed towards to doorway; he had a horrible feeling that Harry would be arriving any minute. "Oh, by the way, there's a pile of post for you in your top drawer, you might want to have a sort through that when you've got a minute. Some of it's been here since this time last week, I'm not sure how urgent it is."

Leo only hoped that he'd played that one well enough to keep her from suspecting anything was amiss.

**Very very very sorry for the delay, thought I was only going to be doing emergency dance teaching until Wednesday but looks like I'm going to be doing it for another couple of weeks. Hopelesslyhalfhearted if you're reading this then thank you so much for the music suggestions :) Thank you so much Amy, Lizzi, Dinabar, Deadfairies, Hopelesslyhalfhearted and Izzy for reviewing, so cheered me up. :) You guys are amazing. You really are. The good news is that my exams are finally over, so I should be updating Conclusions in Cape Town tomorrow :) And the other good news is that true to form, I've managed to turn this into a 5 parter in the editing process :P So you have that to look forward to! **

**Don't forget to review, will you? I will love you forever :)**

**Love Florencia xxx**


	3. Part III

**Part III**

It was a good 10 minutes before she appeared in his office. He barely even heard her come in, failed to hear the sound of her heels knocking against the hard floor which usually alerted him to her arrival. Either she was wearing a particularly silent pair of shoes today (god, that sounded weird) or she had practically crept into the room deliberately, not wanting him to hear her, to anticipate her coming. Leo suspected the latter. He knew what this was about, of course, knew that finally Nikki was in on the secret. Was it really a secret, now that she knew? She had been the reason that he and Sara had vowed to keep the job offer under wraps, Leo reminded himself, because it was Nikki's business and therefore she should find out in her own time, tell people when she chose. But now she knew, that much was obvious, the torn, confused, slightly thrown look on her face was more than enough to give that away. So was it still a secret, this whole 12 months in South Africa thing?

Yes, Leo decided as he abandoned his budget report and looked up at Nikki properly, reading the confusion on her face and smiling just a little as he realized he already had a pretty good idea of what was worrying her most. Not the moving back to a country she hadn't lived in for at least 8 years (if Leo's maths was correct), not the logistics of moving to an entirely different hemisphere, not the having to allow others to watch her whilst she was working, which Leo knew only too well she hated, or even the increased risk of bumping into her father were she to head back to South Africa permanently, assuming he was still out there of course. No, none of those were the factors worrying her the most, causing the majority of her hesitation and anxiety, Leo was certain of it. He was certain beyond doubt that the part of all this Nikki was the most worried about was the having to tell Harry.

He had to act as if he didn't know a thing, of course. Nikki wasn't exactly going to be happy if she found out he had known about this for a good 3 days before she even had an inkling; he knew that. He was going to have to play stupid for now, act surprised when she told him, let her take control and tell him her thoughts on it all without projecting his own onto her, influencing her decision. Because this was _Nikki's _decision to make, no one else's. It was like Janet had told him the previous evening, Leo sighed miserably, Nikki wasn't going to wait forever. But still he found himself hoping she might be prepared to wait just a little bit longer. Long enough for him to have the chance to knock some sense into Harry and persuade her to stay.

"Nikki?" Leo frowned, deciding that to miss the anxiety now perfectly visible on her face would be to make it all far too downright obvious. "Nikki, are you alright? How can I help?" he asked, gesturing for her to take a seat opposite him. Exactly why he was bothering with the formalities he didn't know, it wasn't like she needed his permission to sit down. He, Harry and Nikki had never exactly had a 'normal' office relationship, so to speak; floating in and out of each other's offices unannounced wasn't exactly odd to them when they were quite happy to float in and out of each other's houses. So why was he bothering now? Leo wondered. Perhaps because he was so sure what this was about, knew it was a topic that perhaps Nikki might prefer him to take a more traditional boss-like role in discussing, perhaps she might find it easier to hand in her resignation and pack her bags for Cape Town if he handled this as her boss and not her friend, a father-like figure.

He watched her intently as she took a deep breath, composing herself before she finally managed to force the words out.

"I've…" Nikki stammered at last, the look on her face almost apologetic. Why was she apologetic? Leo wondered. There was nothing for her to be apologetic about; she hardly needed to apologise for being in demand professionally. And possibly socially too, Leo realised, the more he thought about it, the more that explanation made sense. Nikki had been Sara's long before she was his and Harry's, he knew that. Which surely meant that they couldn't keep her forever no matter how much they might want to, they were going to have to share her with someone else, someone else who just so happened to be on the other side of the world. Maybe Leo and Harry had tied her down to London, had her to themselves for longer than their fair share, maybe it was time to let her go, give her back to Africa for a little while. But… but even so, Leo had a strong suspicion that however much Nikki might mean to Sara, however much she might mean to anyone else on the planet, it would pale in comparison to the extent to which Harry depended on her. The pair of them were inseparable, each one incomplete without the other, perhaps more so than either of them were aware.

"I've been offered a job." So quiet was her statement that Leo barely heard her, her quiet tone just about succeeding in pulling Leo from his daydream. "Not a permanent one, a…" Her embarrassment at the given situation was obvious, clearly it was all making her feel incredibly awkward. This, Leo decided, was the downside of having such a close-knit team; it made trying to hand in your notice absolute hell. Her wanting to leave was nothing personal, he knew that, though at the same time he knew that Nikki was afraid he wouldn't see it that way, that he would be offended that she was even considering leaving for a year. This whole mess was becoming more and more awkward by the minute.

"It's not permanent," Nikki continued, struggling to hold Leo's gaze and looking down at her lap as she played with her fingernails. "It's a 12 month contract… you… do you remember Sara Laurence?"

"Your friend from Cape Town?" Leo played along, only hoping he was doing a convincing enough job. When he had spoken to Sara on the phone last Friday- the day the secret had come out entirely by accident and he had been sworn to secrecy- the pair of them hadn't actually discussed whether or not Leo would reveal to Nikki that he had already known about the job offer. Though Leo suspected that Sara had thought that one didn't even need discussing, assumed that he would just keep quiet when Nikki told him, play his part and guide her towards her decision: to stay or to go. And so that was simply what he was going to have to do.

Nikki nodded now in reply, still fidgeting nervously with her fingernails. "She's offering me a job, in Cape Town," she managed, the words seemingly pouring out of her now she had begun on this release of information and confusion and emotion all at once. "Well, not Sara as such, the university she works for, that her lab's attached to, they haven't got enough pathologists to cope with the number of students they've been asked to take on this year, so she was asked to recommend someone to help out for the next 12 months, just this academic year…"

"And she recommended you?" Leo finished for her, overcome with a sudden sense of déjà vu. Those were almost the exact words he had uttered to Sara Laurence on discovering this secret the first time around, for real, not playing along as he was now. His role in all this appeared to be unchanging, whoever he dealt with, whichever angle he came at this from. And at this moment in time Leo wasn't sure whether that made him feel better or worse.

"Y-yes." Her voice shook slightly as she confirmed the truth, let out the secret, a secret which had not truly been a secret at all since the moment she had opened the envelope, though of course Nikki wasn't to know that.

"I see." _No, no Leo, don't say that, don't be stupid. That sounds too formal, administrative, like… like goodness knows what. But it's completely the wrong reaction, not the way she's expecting you to react in the slightest. Oh come on, pull yourself together, Leo. Pull yourself together and say something sensible. _

"Well, I…" _Sensible, Leo, sensible, not hesitant and downright stupid._ "Congratulations."

"Thanks," Nikki smiled nervously, leaning forward slightly in her chair. "Though I… I don't know whether I'm going to take it yet. I mean, assuming I take it, they… they want me to start in 2 weeks, and there's so much I'll need to sort out before I leave…"

"2 weeks?" Leo repeated, slightly shocked. Sara hadn't mentioned that part on the phone, that Nikki would be starting in 2 weeks if she chose to take the job. How was he supposed to find a replacement pathologist in 2 bloody weeks? Finding someone as experienced and dedicated as Nikki was going to be hard enough as it was, let alone in the space of 2 weeks. Why couldn't Sara have recommended someone freelance or independent, whatever you called it these days, or someone currently unemployed, someone already living in Cape Town… blow it, he might as well go the whole way: why couldn't she have chosen someone who wasn't Nikki? But he already knew the answer to that one, of course. Nikki was easily one of the most talented pathologists he had encountered in too many years to even think about adding up, not to mention the most hard-working and dedicated, passionate about her job and willing to slave away endlessly until even the most difficult of cases was solved. And she had been trained by Sara, Leo reminded himself, he knew she had spent at least 6 months in pathology under Sara's wing, another few years before that in Cape Town in anthropology. The topic had not yet been discussed, but still Leo knew that Sara Laurence didn't just want anyone to assist her in pathology training for the next 6 months. She wanted someone whose working method she knew inside out, someone she knew she could rely on to get on with her job without needing guidance so that she herself could focus on the new students. She wanted someone who knew the area, who had worked at both Sontonga University and Peppertree Mortuary before and therefore wouldn't take as long to settle in. She wanted someone she knew and someone she could trust, someone she knew would fit into her team effortlessly, above all, someone with whom she had already established a relationship, someone she could consider a friend, a sister, right from the start. Leo knew all that already without Sara having to tell him, because he knew he would have felt exactly the same way, done exactly the same thing.

"I know." Nikki's eyes were wide now, her face etched with guilt. "I know, I'm sorry. That's partly why I'm not sure about this, it's not fair on you to try and come up with someone in 2 weeks and…"

"No, Nikki, stop," Leo told her gently, reaching out his hand across the desk to take Nikki's in his own. "This isn't about me, Nikki; I can sort something out if this is what you want. You've got to make the right choice for you, OK, no one else. I can find a temp for the next year if you decide you want to take this job, you can come back here at the end if you still want to, that's not a problem. Have you spoken to Sara yet?"

Nikki shook her head. "No, I... I wanted to tell you first."

It was clearly a shock to the system, that much was obvious to Leo. This was the last thing Nikki had been expecting to become tangled up in when she had begun going through her post that morning and it had thrown her, left her in such a state of shock that for the moment she simply couldn't think clearly, come of a decision. "OK. OK, well, why don't you have a think about it for now, you can call her later and find out more about what you'd be doing out there, and then you can decide what you want to do."

"Decide what you want to do about what?" Came a third voice from behind them.

And suddenly Leo was overcome with the most horrible feeling that Harry Cunningham had been standing in the doorway for a good few minutes.

**Very very sorry, I honestly have no idea where this week has gone! Though hopefully next week will be slightly less busy, so I can get this finished. Thank you so much Dinabar, Amy, Emma, Lizzi, Izzy and Deadfairies for your reviews, you have no idea how brilliant you are :) Or how much your reviews cheer me up in the middle of Maths homework :P Please do let me know what you think of this chapter, and I'll try to update faster next time!**

**Love Flossie xxx**


	4. Part IV

**Part IV**

"Decide what to do about what?" Harry asked, thoroughly confused. He had arrived outside Leo's office door at 'go away and think about it,' though didn't have the slightest idea what Leo wanted Nikki to go away and think about. Something serious, he was guessing, judging by the tone of Leo's voice prior to his trailing off, the strange look on Nikki's face which Harry couldn't place at all, no matter how hard he tried. Usually he could read Nikki like a book, recognised every emotion which she could possibly present to him in a matter of seconds. But not today. No, today he saw something in her eyes which he couldn't remember seeing before, sensed immediately that something was going on between his two colleagues, something they knew about which he didn't. Something they hadn't yet had the chance to tell him. But what?

Nikki frowned momentarily, anxious; the look passed across her face so quickly that Harry barely had time to register it before it was gone again, before that strange, unidentifiable look became a smile, a morning greeting.

"Hi Harry," she smiled. "Leo and I were just going over my RTA case; you know, the 10 year old boy, we're not quite sure how best to handle the mother."

He might have fallen for it. Despite knowing her better than anyone, despite his ability to read her every expression under normal circumstances, Harry Cunningham might just have fallen for Nikki's cover story. She was good; he had to give her that. She was a remarkably good actress when she wanted to be, needed to be, and normally she didn't need to keep secrets from her best friend, didn't give Harry the opportunity to put his ability to read her mind to the test against her best acting skills. And Harry might have just fallen for her white lie if only it hadn't been for the brief flash of a disapproving look on Leo's face as the words left her mouth, lingering there only for a moment before it was gone without a trace. But still, it was there long enough for Harry to become suspicious. She was keeping something from him, he was sure of it. Nikki was keeping something from him.

He should have frowned and asked once more what was going on, should have sat down beside Nikki at Leo's desk and made it clear that he wasn't going anywhere until they shared their secret. But he didn't. Instead he just smiled back and nodded, told Nikki he was going to get started on his ever-growing mountain of reports and would be in their office before turning and heading away down the corridor. Why? Harry didn't know. Because he was afraid, perhaps? Because never in almost 8 years of knowing her had Nikki Alexander lied to his face like that, not that he had noticed, at least. Never before had she felt the need to keep something from him, and that in itself was a warning sign. Something was wrong, and Harry was scared it was something he didn't want to face, didn't want to know about. It would make life a whole lot easier to try and carry on like nothing was wrong, just for now, for an hour or so. Just a couple of hours more in denial, that was all, and then he would man up and extract the secret from Nikki, find out what was wrong. But not just yet.

It was another 20 minutes before Nikki finally stepped into hers and Harry's office, despite having told him she was only going to be another minute or so. When at last she did appear she looked… shaken, Harry supposed, that was the best word he could come up with to describe her expression. She looked shaken, though not in the same way she did when she'd just arrived back from a particularly horrific crime scene or PM or even another disastrous meeting with her father, the way she did when he knew instantly that she would be requiring a hug and a few calming words in order to calm her down. But the hug wasn't an option today because she wasn't shaken in that sense. The more Harry thought about it, the more he realised that the shaken look on Nikki's face now was closer to confused than shock, as though something had taken her a little by surprise and she was still in the process of sorting through it all in her mind, trying to make sense of it all. A hug might not be what she needed now, Harry knew that, but perhaps it would help her if he simply offered to be there to listen, to be someone with whom she could talk through whatever it was that was troubling her. She had never failed to open up to him in the past, after all. Why should this time be any different?

"Nikki?" Harry asked carefully as she entered the office properly, doing his best to pretend that he had only just looked up over his computer screen to see her, hadn't been watching out for her for almost half an hour now. "Are you alright?"

"Hmm?" Nikki frowned, jumping a little as though she had only just noticed him sat there watching her. "Oh… I… I'm fine," she insisted, tucking a loose stand of hair behind her ear as she sat down opposite her best friend at her desk, though she couldn't meet Harry's eyes as she replied. "No, it was nothing, honestly. I'm fine." And with that said, she looked up and smiled briefly, forced, before looking back down and frantically beginning to type at her computer. And that did nothing to convince an already suspicious Harry that there was something she wasn't telling him.

"You know you can tell me anything?"

Nikki looked up once more at that statement, her expression now surprised in a new way, a different way. She hadn't been expecting that one from Harry at all, that much was clear.

"Of course I do," she insisted gently, laughing a little, nervous. "Of course I do. But… there's nothing to tell, Harry, really. I'm fine."

Harry knew better than to argue with her after 7 years of friendship, knew he would stand no chance at all of getting her to share her problems with him if he did. Because there was a problem, there was something troubling her, he was sure of it. That wasn't hard to work out. It was the extracting the problem from her that was going to be the difficult part.

"Do you want to come round to mine this evening?" Harry offered now, hoping the offer of a takeaway pizza and a bad movie might succeed in getting Nikki to open up where gentle words now over a computer monitor had failed miserably. "We could order in pizza, and I've got a whole stack of DVDs we haven't worked our way through yet…"

But Nikki just shook her head, almost sadly, regretfully, though Harry wasn't convinced that was something she had intended for him to pick up on. "Sorry, Harry, but not tonight. I'm… I'm busy tonight. But maybe another time?"

"Another time," Harry agreed, fighting to keep the reluctance out of his voice. Was she really busy? He wasn't sure. He just couldn't figure her out today, no matter how hard he tried.

He let it drop for the rest of the day, just kept a close eye on her, ready to intervene should she need his reassurance and help but far enough away to avoid her catching on, not wanting her to think he was interfering. Harry only wished he had managed to persuade her to come back to his that evening; apart from anything, by the end of the day Nikki looked exhausted and Harry himself wasn't relishing the thought of going home to an empty apartment, would have much preferred some company. He should probably ask someone else over, maybe even go out, Harry pondered as he bid Nikki and Leo goodnight and crossed the Lyell Centre car park, heading home. If he was really that bothered about having some company this evening then he should really ask someone else. But he wouldn't, of course. Why was it that the only company he ever seemed to want at the end of a long day at work was that of a certain Dr Nikki Alexander?

It wasn't until the following afternoon that he finally discovered Nikki's secret.

Harry didn't mean to pry. He really didn't. It was Tuesday afternoon and both Nikki and Leo were out at crime scenes, had been for a good hour before it happened. God only knew when they were going to be back; both had mentioned on their way out that their crime scene was a while away, that they were likely to be a good few hours in total. And so Harry had sentenced himself to an afternoon of complete and utter boredom, one of catching up on mundane paperwork, not dissimilar to the way things had been the week before when Nikki had been away at her conference in Bath. There was no denying it; it wasn't that Leo was not good company, but the Lyell Centre just wasn't the same without Nikki to tease.

He hadn't intended on making use of Nikki's computer whilst she was out. Normally it was Nikki who stole _his_ desk, his computer, his postits, not the other way round. But his own had crashed when he tried to download a particularly large document sent to him by the coroner, and so he decided to log onto hers instead, hope it was a problem with his computer and not the word document. He dreaded to even imagine Leo's reaction if he were to arrive back from his crime scene to find two computers crashed, infected with some nasty virus and needing servicing in order to get them working again.

But when Harry had swapped over into Nikki's chair and waved the computer mouse (noticing that it wasn't anywhere near as comfortable as his was, wondering if perhaps that was why she stole his desk so often, and finally making a mental note not to kick up such a fuss the next time he found her sat at the opposite side of the desk), instead of jumping back to the Lyell Centre home screen as Harry had assumed it would, the screensaver simply cancelled and reverted back to the programme it had been running before; clearly Nikki hadn't logged off before leaving for her crime scene. Perhaps he should log off for her? Or… no… he didn't want her to lose something crucial she was working on. No, perhaps it would be best if he downloaded the document the coroner had sent him from Nikki's log-on, just to be sure she didn't lose something unsaved?

It was the thinking about emails and log-on accounts that suddenly triggered Harry's mind into action, caused him to notice for the first time what was on the screen. Because the computer monitor was already displaying an email inbox, though it didn't contain the message he wanted, of course, because it wasn't his inbox. It was Nikki's.

In hindsight, he should have stopped right then and there. He should have closed down the web page, logged off and started again, shouldn't have pried. What business did Harry have to go looking through Nikki's emails? None. None, it was none of his business. None of his business at all. But the trouble was, by the time Harry had sorted through all that in his mind and made the decision to stop snooping, he'd already taken in the subjects of her inbox messages. And already he was worried. Even more so than before.

It was the first two messages which were the subject of Harry's new-found anxiety, both ones which had only arrived in Nikki's inbox earlier that day. The second from the top was the first one to catch his attention, bizarrely, possibly because it was the only unread one of those on the screen, the only one marked out in bold. Entitled 'properties in Cape Town.'

For a moment Harry simply stopped and frowned at the message, confused. All thoughts of respecting Nikki's privacy and finding another computer were now gone and curiosity had taken over, however terrible a best friend that might make him. Why was Nikki looking at properties in Cape Town? It was none of his business if she was thinking of moving house, of course, but… Cape Town?

And that was when it clicked.

No. No, no, she… she wouldn't. Nikki wouldn't, not now… she hadn't lived in Cape Town since she was a child, since her mother had died… Except that wasn't true, Harry realized, the truth slowly beginning to dawn on him. Nikki had lived in Cape Town more recently than that, she had been out there training as a pathologist under Sara Laurence's wing just before she had arrived at the Lyell Centre along with her iron age skeleton family. Sara Laurence… it was only now that Harry paid any attention to the email at the top of Nikki's inbox, the one she had already read, already opened, at least. 'Sontonga University Pathology Course', the subject of the email taunted him, the sender name in the column to the right of the subject listed as Sara Laurence.

Even if Harry hadn't opened the email, he would have known. Once the titles of those two emails were put together, it didn't take a genius to work out what all this was about. He was losing her. She was leaving him, maybe for good.

He… he was losing her.

**Very very sorry for my absence this week, just haven't had any time to write :( I probably have far too many fics on the go at the moment, I know, it's my own fault. Though this one's nearly finished now :) Huge hugs for Deadfairies, Dinabar, Amy, Lizzi, Izzy and Emma for your reviews xx**

**One last thing before I shut up and go: I've just been given an idea for a short multi chap future project, for once I've finished this and the Obsession. It's a bit different, basically the plan is to take a lyrical dance duet from youtube as provided by my dance teacher, and write 3 or 4 oneshots based on the emotions in the dance. So the characters aren't actually doing the dance, but the plot is based on the dancing, if that makes any sense at all. If you're interested, then this could be something I could work on in between dance teaching when I haven't got much time and it's easier to write oneshots than chapters. You wouldn't have to actually watch the dance if you don't want to, it's just a starting point for me inspiration wise.**

**IF you're interested then there are 2 ways we can do this: a) I can just write it and upload it, and post a link to the dance on my profile page so you can go and watch it if you want to, or b) I can post the link later today, you guys can watch it, let me know if you like it and any possible scenarios you get from it (either Harry/Nikki or Leo/Janet or Nikki/Victor or whatever comes to mind) and I'll write them up as oneshots next week and start posting them once I've done the whole thing, to avoid a long delay :P So if you've managed to understand my drivel, then please do let me know if that appeals and how you'd like to do it. And don't forget to review!**

**Love Flossie xxx**


	5. Part V

**Part V**

It was clear to Nikki from the moment she entered the office later that afternoon that Harry knew, although exactly how she could tell that just from looking at him, she really didn't know. Over the years she and Harry had mastered the art of reading each other's body language without even having to try, almost automatically, minimal effort required and sometimes starting to do so completely unintentionally. But was her reading Harry's expression today really automatic? She'd thought it was at first, but now Nikki really wasn't so sure.

Leo had told Nikki rather firmly before she left for her crime scene that if she hadn't told Harry about the job offer by the end of the day, he was going to do it for her; something Nikki knew would only make the situation a thousand times worse. Harry was going to be mad at her if she told him now, whether she decided to take the job or not, and that was why if it hadn't been for Leo she would have left it for now, only told Harry when she was certain that she would be going (which she wasn't, not yet, not in the slightest). That way, if and when she decided not to go she wouldn't have to tell him at all, wouldn't need to unleash the angry side of Harry that she really, really hated, but would inevitably end up seeing. Because there was no point in upsetting him for no reason whatsoever, that was what Nikki told herself. She remembered only too well her bad, quite frankly embarrassing reaction to learning that Harry _might_ be leaving for America for 6 months, and that was years ago now, long before she and Harry had become as close as they were today. And so, Nikki concluded, god only knew how Harry would have reacted had she sat him down now and told him that she might be leaving, for the other side of the world, not for 6 months but for a whole year. That conversation was painful even to imagine.

But she wasn't going to have to do anything more than imagine it, Nikki realized almost grimly, now standing in the doorway of hers and Harry's office, lingering there a little too long, not wanting to enter in completely. She wasn't going to have to do anything more than imagine that awful conversation with Harry Cunningham in which she broke the news to him because he already knew, she could see it in his eyes. How had he found out? Leo? No, Nikki told herself, Leo wouldn't, not when he'd promised to give her the day to tell Harry herself. So how… Sara, maybe? What if Sara Laurence had phoned whilst Nikki was out and let something slip to Harry, assuming that he already knew? Nikki had only spoken to her once, briefly about all this, earlier that morning, but even in that short telephone conversation she had picked up on the excitement in her friend's voice, gathered enough to know that Sara was hoping she would take the job, hoping to have her friend just a few minutes away rather than living in an entirely different hemisphere. But then there was Harry and Leo… not to mention a fierce longing inside her for a home she'd left a long time ago that felt stronger of late than it had in years, an urge for warm African sun and the happiness associated with it that just wouldn't go away… god, why did this have to be so difficult?

"Hi." Pathetic, Nikki knew, but it was all she could manage. How was 'hi' even vaguely appropriate given the context? It wasn't, she knew full well it wasn't. 'Hi Harry, I can tell by the look on your face you know my news by now, but tell you what, let's not talk about it for now, I'll let you know if and when I'm off?' No, that wouldn't do, of course it wouldn't. This wasn't some old university friend she barely ever saw anymore, this was Harry. He deserved more than a stupid, thoughtless 'hi', Nikki knew that.

The trouble was that she wasn't entirely sure what else to say.

"Hi." Harry's returned greeting was forced, strained, almost bitter. He was angry, Nikki knew he was, but then that was exactly what she had expected. He was angry that she hadn't told him about the possibility of her leaving earlier, had lied to his face and told him nothing was wrong instead. And it served her right, too, she knew she deserved it. Harry wasn't used to her lying to him, and it was never going to go down well. Nikki had known that. But that hadn't stopped her from doing so regardless.

"How was your crime scene?" Harry asked flatly, looking back down at his desk and avoiding Nikki's gaze completely; it was almost an adult version of school playground ignoring a friend, she sighed miserably. Except she could hardly go running to Leo to complain that Harry wasn't being fair, not at the grand old age of 34.

"It was OK, thanks," Nikki responded brightly- too brightly, she realised far too late. Far too brightly. What was even the point in pretending everything was OK between the two of them when they both knew full well it wasn't? But somehow she couldn't stop herself, as though her forced cheeriness were some kind of defence mechanism, keeping the inevitable confrontation at bay. "So how's your afternoon been?"

"How's my afternoon been?" Harry repeated, the sarcastic, irritated, just slightly hurt tone to his voice only making Nikki feel all the worse. "Well, let me see, I've been busily working my way through a whole heap of paperwork, I've been fighting a losing battle with an uncooperative computer… oh, and mentally running through all the pathologists I know in the London area, trying to think if there's anyone who'd be willing to take up a post here with less than 2 weeks' notice." He was practically glaring at her now, his eyes full of disapproval, hurt that she'd considered going away for a whole year and hadn't bothered to tell him, mixed in with just a small amount of pride in her for being offered the job in the first place; an inner conflict making the pain of the situation all the worse. That was a look Nikki recognised, a look she knew only too well. She knew it for what it was because she had felt exactly the same way back when Harry had been offered a contract in America, what now seemed like a lifetime ago.

"You know." It probably wasn't the cleverest thing to say in response, Nikki realized; stating the bloody obvious was such a contrast to her secrecy of that morning that it was bound to agitate Harry even further. But the words had left her mouth long before she had time to run through that thought process, acting on impulse out of fear of an inevitable confrontation. Why was it that only Harry Cunningham could do this to her?

"Were you going to tell me?"

"Of course I was!" Nikki protested, though she knew her voice sounded weak and feeble, her heart not quite in the fight. "I… I just needed some time to think."

"Time to think?" Harry repeated. "Time to think about what? Nikki, come on, what have you got to think about? Another year in boring, rainy England, same old thing day-in, day-out that you've been doing for years, or a nice fresh start in wonderful sunny, rain-free Cape Town? No more being surrounded by corpses all day, no more insufferable Dis, just a nice group of eager medical school graduates, sociable hours, no night calls…"

"I'm still going to be working as an actual pathologist part time…" Nikki tried to protest, but Harry cut her off, the affronted edge to his voice becoming more apparent by the minute.

"Oh, so you are going, are you?" His voice was sneering, accusative, enough that just for a moment she almost believed that she was the one being unreasonable about all this. But only for a moment; Nikki hadn't asked for all this, after all. This had been the last thing she had expected to have to deal with today.

"What? No… I mean, I haven't decided, this is all just hypothetical!" Nikki argued, her own anger coming into play now as their conversation became all the more heated. What business was it of Harry's to have a go at her just for considering this job offer? He hadn't consulted her about his Boston professorship offer, not until she had stumbled by it in the glove compartment of his car. He hadn't included her in his plans back then, why should she do that for him now?

"And anyway, I don't see what all this has got to do with you!" Nikki retaliated, certain that by now the lab technicians must be huddled at the door listening in on the fight that was ensuing, but too caught up in the emotions of it all to care. "It's not your decision to make, Harry, it's mine, and a huge one at that! I'm not going to be bullied into staying just because that's what _you_ want! This isn't about you, Harry, this is about me, remember? Just because you can't cope with the prospect of actually doing your own paperwork for a whole year…!"

"Oh, is that what you think?" Harry retorted, his knuckles turning white as his grip tightened on the corner of Nikki's desk, his face now just inches from hers, almost close enough to be intimidating if she didn't know him as well as she did. Maybe even slightly intimidating anyway, though she would never let Harry catch on to that, wouldn't do that to him. She knew he was angry, knew the prospect of losing his best friend to the Southern Hemisphere for a whole year wasn't exactly appealing to him now, but he would adapt, Nikki knew that, he would adapt just as Leo would. A few months' time and she would be but a memory, perhaps not a distant one, but a memory all the same. Leo would have found some common ground with the temp- her replacement- while Harry would sweet talk the new pathologist at the desk opposite into finishing his paperwork the way she had done all these years, tune into the temp's sense of humour in the blink of an eye. Maybe Harry and the temp would hit it off, fall in love, sett… no. No, Nikki told herself, she wasn't going there, wasn't going to think about that. Besides, what did it matter, who was she to deny Harry any happiness when she would be perfectly happy back in South Africa, working with Sara again… wouldn't she? Of course she would, of course she would be happy… but what if she wasn't? What if…?

But there was no time for what ifs. Not when Harry was still ranting and raging, not when something about this whole possible job in South Africa thing seemed to have gotten under his skin like nothing else, and try as she might she couldn't understand why.

"Why can't you turn off from bloody work once in a while, Nikki?" Harry demanded, his chair sliding a short distance across the floor as he practically threw himself out of it, moving to pace the office space between them instead. "Why does everything have to be about paperwork and PMs with you? So the only reason I don't want you to take this job is because I have some kind of physical incapability to type up my own tox report, that's what you think? How about this: maybe I just don't want you to go because I'd miss you too much? Did you think of that? Or were you too busy planning your private tuition sessions with Sara's precious students?"

"Well maybe I've got other people who miss me! Maybe I don't want to stay here forever, Harry! Maybe it's time to go home, stop pretending home's ever been here anymore! I can't do this, OK, I just can't! I can't sit around here for the rest of my life when it's not home, when there's nothing keeping me here! I… I want to go home."

There. She'd said it. She'd finally snapped, spilled out a fear and a desire to Harry Cunningham that she'd never planned on bringing into all this, another hidden reason to leave hidden within the first that she hoped to god he failed to pick up on… that would be so humiliating she might have to pack up her bags and leave for good on the next flight out of London. Why had she done it? What on earth had possessed her to pour her heart out to him, albeit through this talk of home which perhaps was part truth, part metaphor, a little more metaphor than she had previously thought? _Stupid. Stupid, Nikki, stupid._

And suddenly Harry Cunningham's face was just inches from Nikki's own once more, though this time the intimidation and anger in his features was gone, replaced with care and concern and just a hint of affection, though after the whirlwind of emotions she'd been through that afternoon already Nikki almost didn't trust herself to recognise it in his eyes, not anymore.

"What if…" His voice was soft, his hands searching for her own as he pulled her in just a little closer. "What if here was home?"

"But it's not that simple…"

"Nikki, no, you're not listening," Harry protested gently, his free hand reaching out to cup her face as suddenly the world seemed to stop, suddenly something made sense which she hadn't even realized had been a cause of confusion before. "What if you had a reason for here to be home? What if… what if someone asked you to stay?"

She paused now, looked right into his eyes, almost a little shocked at his proposition. But then she smiled, her eyes lighting up a little as she laughed softly, shyly, still just a little worried that she'd got the wrong idea completely but that fear dying within her with each passing second. "Well," she contemplated, "I suppose I could think about it. I suppose. Though it would depend on how the 'home' offer comes into this of course. I'm not spending the rest of my life in your bachelor pad!"

"Are you flirting with me, Dr Alexander?"

"I might be," Nikki teased, her heart suddenly lighter, lighter than it had been since returning from the conference in Bath lighter than she could remember feeling in a long, long time. And suddenly her lips were pressed to Harry Cunningham's, locked together in a moment of passion fierce and fiery yet gentle and caring all at once, a moment which could only possibly have lasted a few seconds but somehow seemed to span a lifetime, working its way into their past, their present, their future, until united for now and forever seemed the only possible way forward for either of them.

**I hate this chapter. No, really. I've been trying and failing to get it the way I want it all week but it's just not happening, and I didn't want to keep you waiting any longer. Apparently it's fine and I'm just a perfectionist, but I'm yet to be convinced. Please do let me know if it's not terrible, you'll put my mind at rest :)**

**Just an epilogue to come (which I **_**do**_** like) and then it's finally over :) Thank you so much Deadfairies for setting this challenge, and all my amazing reviewers, Dinabar, Lizzi and Amy. Virtual hugs coming your way xx **

**So one last chapter, and one last secret, the key to the whole thing… any ideas? I'll give you a clue: this final secret is not Leo's, it's not Nikki's and it's not Harry's, though it is a secret in the lab. And all three are caught up in it. Do let me know if you think you've got it, won't you? :P**

**Love Flossie xxx**


	6. Epilogue

**OK, so here's the final secret! H/N fluff at the end :)**

**Epilogue**

"OK Niks, not to worry," Sara Laurence assured her friend over the phone the following morning. "No, I understand. It was a huge ask, Niks, for you to drop everything at such short notice… no, it's fine, there's no need to apologise… we'll be fine, don't worry," she insisted. "I'm sure we'll be able to line up someone else to help out with all the new students, it's really not a problem. And you know how it is, half of them will have dropped out by the end of February… No, I'm not just saying that, it's true!" she insisted, glaring at her husband as he took a seat opposite her at the breakfast table, watched his face twist into a frown as he began to push her laptop to one side and then stopped, taking in the document displayed on the screen. "It's fine… no… no, don't be stupid. We can meet up sometime over the winter, it's no big deal. You can bring Harry," she suggested, smiling slyly before continuing, earning herself a further frown from Pieter. "Speaking of Harry, Niks, there's not anything you'd like to tell me, is there…? …OK!" she laughed, backtracking in response to the tell-tale reaction from the other end of the phone line. "That good, hey? Yep, I understand, I'll call you later, OK? Hang on… no, Nikki, no, let me tell him, OK? I'm going to be seeing him in just over an hour, I'll tell him, it'll save you having to draft some horribly formal email… yep… no, Niks, I'm sure, _I'll_ tell him you're not taking it, OK? I'm sure… OK then… bye!" And with that she ended the call, stretching across the kitchen table to place the phone back on the cradle.

"Nikki's not coming out here, then?" Pieter Lamprecht asked, looking up from behind the laptop screen.

"No, she decided against it in the end," Sara explained casually. "I knew she would."

"So that means I don't have to clear out the spare room?"

"I never asked you to clear out the spare room," Sara pointed out, rolling her eyes. "You were the one who kept banging on about it."

"Well, where else was Niks going to stay?" Pieter argued. "I know she'd bound to want her own place eventually if she was coming out here for a year, but she'd never be able to come up with somewhere in 2 weeks. She's your friend, you're not telling me you'd let her stay in some overpriced hotel, are you?"

"No, of course not," Sara sighed exasperatedly, snatching the newspaper from the other side of the breakfast table and taking a sudden, unprompted interest in the crossword. "I just… just sort of knew she wasn't going to take it," she mumbled awkwardly, hoping Pieter wouldn't quite catch her response and just let the matter drop.

No such luck.

"You just knew she wasn't going to take it?" Pieter repeated, confused. "What are you, psychic?"

"Something like that," said Sara hastily, her gaze kept firmly focused on the crossword. "OK: 'to bring a worker into the country may prove significant.' Any ideas?"

"Is that a cryptic?"

"Might be."

"It's before 9 in the morning, no point asking me. Anyway," Pieter continued, "What was that you were saying to Nikki about her and Harry?"

"Oh, that," Sara smiled, abandoning the crossword at last. "Let's just say it looks like they might have finally realized what was right under their noses."

"Finally?" Pieter sat bolt upright now, alert, curious, eager for details. "What? How? What did she say?"

"I don't know, I didn't press her for details!" Sara laughed. "I just heard someone else in the background at her end, and let's face it, it could only be a boyfriend at this time on a weekday morning, right? And then I recognised Harry's voice and put two and two together."

"Well you could have gotten more out of her!" Pieter complained. "That's the best you can do? You heard Harry in the background so you're assuming that means he and Nikki are together? That's all?"

"And she confirmed it!" Sara protested, her voice filled with mock defensiveness. "Why else do you think she was so desperate to get back to him?"

"Apart from you being bloody annoying?"

"Ja, apart from that." This constant teasing and put-on insults between them was so much a part of their relationship that Sara didn't even bother with a comeback. "Anyway, I'm phoning again later for all the details. You've only got to wait a few hours and then we'll know the full story." Poor Harry and Nikki, Sara pondered, so obvious had been their feelings for one another before their coming to their senses that now they were finally together, the start of their relationship was going to be a hot topic of conversation amongst their friends for weeks on end. Then again, Sara decided, it was their own fault. Served them right for not getting their act together years ago.

Pieter frowned now, confused. "So that's how you knew Niks wasn't going to take the job out here? Because you knew she wouldn't want to leave Harry?"

"Maybe."

"But… no, it can't be," Pieter realized. "You only found out about Harry and Niks just now, right?"

"Yep." Sara was on dangerous ground now and she knew it, though she was enjoying this guessing game far too much to force herself to stop and back out now.

"So how could you have possibly known before today that Nikki wasn't going to take the job? You couldn't have. And yet you're saying you knew all along that I didn't need to clear out the spare room?"

"When are you going to stop banging on about the spare room?"

"When are you going to tell me what I'm missing here? Because there's something you're not telling me, I know that, but I just can't figure out what it is."

"And you call yourself a detective?"

Pieter shrugged, just slightly embarrassed that his wife was getting the better of him on this one. "No, come on, tell me!" he insisted. "Seriously, how did you know all along that Nikki wasn't going to take the job? Because unless you've spent the past few days playing matchmaker from the shadows and forcing them together somehow from the other side of the world, then I really don't see how."

"Well…" Sara paused, pretending to contemplate. "I suppose I could tell you…"

"But you'd have to kill me?"

"No, I just don't want to."

"Sara!"

"A good psychic never reveals her secrets. Right, we need to get going." Sara got up from the breakfast table and crossed the kitchen towards the hallway, glancing back over her shoulder as she went to leave the room. "Come on, you said you'd drop Zaretta at school, remember? You're going to make her late."

But Pieter was frowning once more, his attention caught once more by Sara's laptop, squinting in confusion as he read and reread the document she'd left open on the screen. "Sara?"

"Hmm?"

"This is your speech for this afternoon, right? The one you got up at the crack of dawn this morning to finish?"

"Ja, that's the one." He was onto her now, but still she couldn't quite resist playing along, withholding the final details until the last possible moment, until he sussed the whole thing out for himself and appreciated the true extent of her genius.

"It's… it's a lecture for med school graduates."

"Ja… well, I'm not sure I'd call it a lecture exactly, more like an informal talk. But yes, it's for med school graduates."

"And it's for this afternoon? For med school graduates at Sontonga University?"

"Yep."

"But… but it's about why they should consider pathology as a career option. _'Although forensic pathology is not the most popular of career paths chosen by graduates, it is both a rewarding and recession-proof profession, not to mention…'"_

"OK, no need to read it all out…"

"So this afternoon, you're giving a talk to a group of med students and trying to convince them to study pathology this year? You're going to boost the numbers?"

"Hopefully."

"But I thought you had more students this year than you knew what to do with?" Pieter frowned, now completely confused. "Why would you want anymore? I thought that was the whole reason Niks got offered the job in the first place, to help you _cope_ with the numbers?"

"It was," Sara told him, grinning slyly. "At least, that's what I told her."

"What?" Pieter's eyes were wide as Sara's secret was finally out, staring disbelievingly at his wife, dumbstruck. "No! No, you didn't! Harry and Nikki… you said… no!"

"I don't know what you mean," Sara said innocently, turning to lean out of the kitchen into the hallway. "ZARETTA!" She shouted up the stairs to her daughter. "Zaretta, come on, you're going to be late for school!" She turned back to her husband now, smirking slightly. "Go on, you too. She can hardly put 'slowcoach of a stepfather' in the late book as her excuse when she finally makes it to school, can she?"

"Oi, you can't just deflect it!" Pieter protested, still staring at her wide eyed, shocked by this latest revelation which he couldn't quite get his head around. "So you… you fabricated a job out here for Niks to shock Harry into action and get the two of them together?"

"Mm hmm." She could barely contain her smile now; this was a secret Sara had been keeping to herself for weeks and finally she could share it with someone, even more so knowing that she was not going to be able to share it with the people most involved in it, the people right at the heart of her conspiracy who were going to have to remain blissfully unaware. "It's one of my better plans, don't you think?"

"One of your better ones?" Pieter repeated. "It's more than one of your better ones, my love, it's bloody brilliant! How… how the hell did you manage to up with that?"

Sara shrugged modestly, pretending to think for a moment. "Call it a gift."

"Right, sure. How… how…" Pieter shook his head, astounded. "So you just woke up one morning and decided the perfect way to get Harry and Nikki together would be to pretend to offer her a job out here and then sit back and watch and hope the thought of spending a whole year apart would shock one of them into action?"

"Ja, pretty much. I know, I know, I'm a genius."

"As much as I hate to admit it, I think you might be," Pieter teased her. "How long have those two been dancing around their feelings for each other now?"

"I'm not too sure," Sara confessed, frowning a little. "Well, they've known each other now for… 8 years, maybe?"

"8 years of denial, then," Pieter concluded. "And you managed to open their eyes in less than 24 hours?"

"Pretty much."

"You're in the wrong job, you know. You should have been a matchmaker. Either that or some kind of best-friends-completely-and-utterly-in-love-but-not-doing-anything-about-it-therapist."

"Hmm? No way, this was a special case," Sara insisted, mock horror in her eyes. "I'd only do it for Niks; someone needed to intervene before those two missed out on each other completely. No, this was a one off; I'll stick to dead bodies, thanks. I know where I am with dead bodies."

"You do realize how morbid that makes you sound?" Pieter laughed; one last joke before turning serious. "Sara? Just for the record, how on earth did you manage it?"

"Manage what?"

"Persuading your boss to go along with it," Pieter explained, frowning slightly once more. "That's some achievement, convincing him to fake a job offer. Come on, you can't not tell me how you managed it!"

Ah.

"Oh, erm…" Sara stalled; now they had reached the final part of all this, the only part she had been hoping to keep under wraps in the long term. "Well, I just sort of…"

Trust Pieter to choose this particular moment to see right through her.

"No!" Pieter exclaimed, his voice a curious mixture of shock at this final realization and the discovery of what she'd done, the lengths she'd gone to, and admiration that she'd been brave enough to do it in the first place. "No, you didn't! You… no!"

"That would depend on what you think I did," Sara told him slyly, turning to look at the clock. "Right, come on, you really are making Zaretta late now. Out!"

"You did!" Pieter accused her as he headed towards the door where his stepdaughter was already waiting for him, a slight scowl on her face at the prospect of having to explain herself when she ended up being late for school. "You did, didn't you, that's why you're trying to change the subject! You never told your boss at all, did you, you faked a letter from him! You faked a letter from your boss to offer one of your best friends a fake job she could never possibly accept, all to get her together with Harry! You do realize you could be arrested for fraud? _I_ could arrest you for fraud!"

"You wouldn't dare, there'd be no one to do your ironing!" Sara pointed out, laughing at the sulky look on her husband's face. "See, you know I'm right! And anyway, it was worth it," she decided, shooing her husband and daughter out of the door at last. "If it got Harry and Niks together at last, it was so, so worth it."

**SW*SW*SW**

"I've done it!" Nikki Alexander called as she entered her kitchen, placing the phone back onto the cradle as she went. "I told her! Hang on…" her face contorted into a frown as she turned the corner into the room completely, noticing the figure standing beside the stove. "Oh god, what are you doing?"

"Cooking you breakfast," Harry replied innocently, gesturing to the sticky mess which was now her kitchen bench. "Pancakes. You like pancakes, don't you?"

"Of course I do," Nikki insisted, putting on her best attempt at a smile, hoping Harry didn't catch on to her slight horror at the state of her kitchen. "Thank you, you… you didn't have to."

"I wanted to," Harry told her, abandoning the frying pan and leaning in to kiss her gently on the lips, his arms snaking their way around her back in a warm embrace, one hand lightly caressing her hip. It felt so right somehow, stood there with her on a lazy weekday morning; holding her close to him and knowing she was all his, his alone to love and cherish was the most natural feeling in the world.

"I love you," he told her sincerely. "So much. I'm so glad you're not going."

"Me too."

Harry frowned. "Do you really mean that, though?" he asked, almost nervously. "You wanted to go home, I know you did. You wanted…"

"I wanted this," Nikki finished, her face as content as Harry had ever seen her. "I wanted you. I can go home any time I like, for a week or so, but that's all I need. That's all I need while I have you."

And suddenly Nikki's face twisted into a frown, her nose screwing up, eyes widening.

"Harry?"

"Hmm?"

"Can I smell burning?"

**I know it was only a short H/N bit at the end, I'm sorry. :( But it seemed like the right place to end it, so I hope it was OK. Well done to Dinabar and Lizzi for guessing the secret, and a huge thank you for all the amazing reviews, Amy, Lizzi, Izzy, Dinabar and Em, and for the reassurance that the last chapter wasn't awful! You guys have been amazing, you really have :) And thank you again Deadfairies for setting the challenge, I would never have come up with this idea if it wasn't for you. Thank you, hope it was what you had in mind!**

**One last review? Please? It would make me very very happy :)**

**Love Flossie xxx**


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